Sycamore tree, also known as the French sycamore, the scientific name of the hanging bell tree. Deciduous tree, up to 35 meters high; branches to develop, the crown is broad; bark gray-green, irregular flaky peeling, peeling pink-green, smooth. Leaf blade triangular, 9-15 cm long, 9-17 cm wide, 3-5-palmatifid, margin with irregular cuspate and undulate teeth, base truncate or subcordate, with stellate hairs when young, later nearly glabrous. Inflorescences globose 2.5-3.5 cm in diam., usually in bunches of 2, resembling hanging bells; flowers ca. 4 mm; sepals 4; petals 4; male flowers; male flowers with 4-8 stamens; female flowers with 6 separated carpels. Flowering in May, fruit ripening in September-October.

This species has a tall trunk, lush foliage, rapid growth, easy to survive, resistant to pruning, so it is widely planted for avenue greening species, also for fast-growing timber species; it has strong resistance to toxic gases such as Ryukyu dioxide and chlorine gas.

The story of the sycamore tree and the phoenix

As the sycamore tree is tall and straight, the best of the trees. Since ancient times, it has been valued. And often the sycamore and the phoenix together. The phoenix is the king of birds, and the phoenix is most happy to perch on top of the sycamore, sycamore is how noble. For example, in our country's poetry, there are records about the sycamore. In the poems, Daya's "Volume A", there is a poem written:

"The phoenix is singing, in his high hill. The sycamore tree is born in the sunrise. Bongbong (bong has a cursive head) luxuriant, harmonious and harmonious music.

This poem is about the luxuriant growth of the sycamore tree, which attracts the cries of the phoenix. Feng Feng (奉奉) (奉有草字头，音beng) luxuriant, is the luxuriant growth of the sycamore; Yong Yong (喈) (harmonious music), is the sound of the phoenix.

In Zhuangzi's Autumn Water, also talking about the sycamore. In said Zhuangzi see Huizi said: "the south has a bird, its name is Wan (right bird next to) chick, son know it? The man who Wan (right next to the bird) chick, hair in the South China Sea and fly in the North Sea, not more than Sycamore, ..."

In this article, the sycamore and the phoenix are also linked together, and here "Wan (right next to the bird) chick" is a kind of phoenix. He said that the phoenix flew from the South China Sea to the North Sea, and only the sycamore fell. This shows the nobility of the sycamore.

In the thirty-seventh book of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, there is this description: "The phoenix soars to thousands of feet, not the wutong does not perch; the scholar is in a party, not the Lord does not rely on."

Since the ancients often associate the sycamore with the phoenix, people now often say, "Plant the sycamore tree, and the phoenix will come". Therefore, in the previous solid family, often planted in the courtyard of the sycamore, not only because the sycamore has a momentum, and the sycamore is a symbol of auspiciousness.